Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Side Events on the Occasion of the Universal Periodic Review of Israel

Taking Place on Thursday 4 December 2008

On the 60^th Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, and the 60^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in the light of the Universal Periodic Review of Israel by the UN Human Rights Council, Badil Resource Center (Bethlehem) and Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Haifa) invite you to attend two side-events at which the sustained, systematic and flagrant violations of the human rights of the Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory will be discussed.

Side-Event 1

Israel Under the Microscope: Non-Compliance With International Human Rights Law

Date: Thursday, 4 December 2008

Time: 13:00

Place: Room XXIV, Palais Des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10

Description:

• Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara will present on key issues of concern for Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel including the land controlled by Jewish National Fund (JNF); land dispossession and displacement of Arab Bedouin living in the Negev (Naqab) in the south of Israel; and new "anti-Arab" legislation enacted by Israel's parliament in 2008.
• Badil Director Ingrid Jaradat Gassner will present on the ongoing Israeli violations of Palestinian rights amounting to apartheid, with a special focus on the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians throughout Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
• Film Screening of 'The Unrecognized' a short documentary which highlights the plight of Palestinian Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel living in the Naqab (Negev) desert, many of whom were forced off their lands following the establishment of the state in 1948.

Food and beverages will be served

Click here to view poster of this event 

Side Event 2

Occupied Palestine: Break the Siege

Date: Thursday, 4 December 2008

Time: 20:00 (Palestinian Dinner Buffet at 19:00)

Place: Salle Rachel Carlson, Maison eds Associations, Geneva

Description:

• National Councilor Josef Zisyadis will speak on the siege of Gaza from his experience as a member, along with 23 other Parliamentarians, of the 4^th international ship to break the siege of Gaza.
• Badil Director Ingrid Jaradat Gassner and Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara who will speak on Israel's ongoing and systematic violations of international law.
• Member of the 22^nd Mission of the CUP who will speak on their campaign to protect Palestinian farmers during the 2008 Olive Harvest in Hebron.
• Palestinian Dinner Buffet from 19:00-20:00

Click here to view poster of this event (in French)

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BADIL is an independent human rights organization based in Palestine. It works to promote a rights-based approach to the issues of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons. Visit our website at: www.badil.org

ADALAH, located in Haifa and Beer el-Sabe, is an independent human rights organization. It works to promote and defend the rights of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Visit our website at: www.adalah.org
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For more information contact:

French, English, Arabic: Rania Madi, Tel: 079 605 39 05